1. For aircraft, the data recorder inside the aircraft (similar to a black box) will record the flight status (e.g. height and flight speed), pilot's operation and flight data during the flight in real time.

2. By analyzing the flight data, we can analyze the cause of the flight accident and determine who shall take responsibility for the accident.

For more details about how to analyze flight data, refer to the tutorials below.

DataViewer is included in DJI Assistant 2, which can be used to analyze the flight controller data from the DJI Phantom series and Inspire series drones, A3, and N3.

1.1 How to Export the Data

The flight controller data refers to the data, including the working statuses of different modules, control and navigation information, etc., generated by the flight controller after the DJI drone is powered on and stored in the internal memory until the drone is powered off. One data file will be generated after the drone is powered on and off. The data files will be named in a sequential numbering order. The log file will be split when its file size exceeds 450 MB. Around 10 MB data will be generated after the drone has flown for one minute, so the log file size will reach 450 MB after the drone has flown for 45 minutes.
DataViewer is mainly used for checking and analyzing the drones’ flight controller data, examining the performance, and troubleshooting the malfunctions of drones. It is an effective tool for finding out the causes of the drones’ malfunctions.
Operate the following steps to export the flight controller data with DataViewer:
1. Launch DJI Assistant 2.
2. Connect to a drone via the USB port on the drone.
3. Click “Flight Data” on the left panel and enter the Flight Record List screen. For the Phantom 3 series and Inspire 1 series drones, you need to enter “Read flight data mode” with DJI GO.
4. Click the button for the SD card mode and you will see a “DJI FLY LOG” removable drive on the PC, as shown in figure 1.1.
5. Then copy the flight controller data to your local disk.

Figure 1.1

1.2 Introduction to DataViewer

Click “Flight Record” on the left panel, enter the “Flight Record List” screen, and click “Open Data Viewer”.

Click the button marked in figure 1.2 to open a flight record file.

Figure 1.2

Figure 1.3 shows the main screen of the DataViewer software and table 1.1 lists DataViewer’s features.

Figure 1.3

Table 1.1

Curves can be zoomed in, zoomed out, and moved by using the Arrow, Zoom In, and Zoom Out tools.
Zoom Out: Move the arrow of the mouse to the diagram region and scroll up the mouse to zoom out by using the Arrow, Zoom In, Zoom Out, or the Hand Tool. Or, with the Zoom Out tool, left-click the diagram region to zoom out.
Zoom In: Move the arrow of the mouse to the diagram region and scroll down the mouse to zoom in by using the Arrow, Zoom In, Zoom Out, or the Hand Tool. Or, with the Zoom In tool, press and hold the left key of the mouse, and drag the rectangular region to zoom in.
Move: Press the button of the mouse to move a curve by using the Arrow, Zoom In, or Zoom Out tool. Or, with Hand Tool, press and hold the left key of the mouse to move a curve.
In the diagram region, X axis always represents time in the unit of second. Y axis represents different parameters according to the curves. For height curves, the unit is meter. For speed curves, the unit is m/s.

1.3 Introduction to Major Data

In the Flight Data region, you can check all data packages and values of the variables of the flight controller data. Next, we will introduce the major types of data packages and the meaning of the specified variables. DataViewer will visualize the data in the data packages in curves for data analysis.
The data in the current flight data records mainly includes the attitude data, OSD data, controller data, remote controller data, motor data, ESC data, battery data, and Obstacle Avoidance data. Flight data may vary according to the drone models, firmware version, etc.
Table 1.2 lists the data packages in the flight controller data and their contents.

Table 1.2 Major Data Packages (might differ with model of the aircraft)

Next, we will introduce the commonly used data packages and their meanings.

Table 1.3 lists the common data items in the attitude data package and their meanings.

Table 1.3 Major Data in the Attitude Data Package

Table 1.4 lists the common data items in the OSD data package and their meanings

Table 1.4 Major Data in the OSD Data Package

Table 1.5 lists the common data items in the remote controller data package and their meanings.

Table 1.5 Major Data in the Remote Controller Data Package

Table 1.6 lists the common data items in the motor data package and their meanings.

Table 1.6 Major Data in the Motor Data Package

Table 1.7 lists the common data items in the ESC data package and their meanings

Table 1.7 Major Data in the ESC Data Package

Table 1.8 lists the common data items in the battery data package and their meanings.

Table 1.8 Major Data in the Battery Data Package

Table 1.9 lists the common data items in the Obstacle Avoidance data package and their meanings.

Table 1.9 Major Data in the Obstacle Avoidance Data Package (Varying According to Drone Models)

If you want to know the meaning of an item, click it in the Flight Data region, and its description including the meaning and unit will be shown in Description region on the lower right corner, as shown in figure 1.4.

fans76920c20 Posted at 2017-9-30 17:11
I recently lost my P3A, not sure what the cause, but can the flight records stored within my ipad mini be uploaded into this program somehow? Thanks very much

I believe this information is pulled directly from the flight recorder on the AC itself. This data is stored in an SD card glued into place inside your AC. There is other data that you can retrieve from your flight records on board your tablet.

I have installed the DJI Assistant software onto my Mac Computer. If i hook up my Phantom 3 Advanced via the USB Cable and enable Flight Data Mode etc, the program will not initialize but stays on the first page without recognizing my P3. If I hook up my P4, the program it will initialize properly. After I had the program open, I tried loading one of the DAT Files from the P3 which I saved, but the program would not recognize the file even though it said it was loaded into the program. I'm not sure what's going on, but it seems the program is not P3 friendly, or I'm doing something wrong?

fans76920c20 Posted at 2017-10-1 18:14
I have installed the DJI Assistant software onto my Mac Computer. If i hook up my Phantom 3 Advanced via the USB Cable and enable Flight Data Mode etc, the program will not initialize but stays on the first page without recognizing my P3. If I hook up my P4, the program it will initialize properly. After I had the program open, I tried loading one of the DAT Files from the P3 which I saved, but the program would not recognize the file even though it said it was loaded into the program. I'm not sure what's going on, but it seems the program is not P3 friendly, or I'm doing something wrong?

Have a closer look at this list of actions from the opening DJI post at the top of this thread - note the bit in item 3 that I jhave highlighted in bold:

"Operate the following steps to export the flight controller data with DataViewer:
1. Launch DJI Assistant 2.
2. Connect to a drone via the USB port on the drone.
3. Click “Flight Data” on the left panel and enter the Flight Record List screen. For the Phantom 3 series and Inspire 1 series drones, you need to enter “Read flight data mode” with DJI GO.
4. Click the button for the SD card mode and you will see a “DJI FLY LOG” removable drive on the PC, as shown in figure 1.1.
5. Then copy the flight controller data to your local disk."

Bernoullis Posted at 2017-10-2 14:53
Have a closer look at this list of actions from the opening DJI post at the top of this thread - note the bit in item 3 that I jhave highlighted in bold:

"Operate the following steps to export the flight controller data with DataViewer:

Thank you for your answer, if you look at my post I did mention I entered the flight data mode, but, it will not open up the program after the first page showing the usb cable needing to be inserted into the craft. I'll give it a try later, perhaps I overlooked something.

So did this get broken in the firmware updates?
Worked perfectly until the latest firmware release. Now it simply doesn't work. No SD card shows in windows before or after clicking the flight data screen. Verified on 3 different windows PCs all using the latest version of DJI assistant 1.1.6. All installed the unsigned drivers. Other functions like firmware check, calibration etc all work.

Something changed and now seem totally unable to access any flight or black box data at all via the PC.

I am on DJI Assistant 1.1.6, just upgraded firmware from 3.1 to 4.0, hoping that access to the flight data would be fixed, but no.
Step 1 of this tutorial is impossible, as SD card shows up as unformatted (no medium present) in Windows Explorer.

I tried using Data Browser, and Save to Local, but the resulting .DAT file cannot be parsed by the Viewer

fans76920c20 Posted at 2017-9-30 17:11
I recently lost my P3A, not sure what the cause, but can the flight records stored within my ipad mini be uploaded into this program somehow? Thanks very much

Flight records are saved in APP. Flight logs are saved in the aircraft. They are different.
If the drone flew away, the data log cannot be retrieved, so the data cannot be imported to DJI Assitant 2 for analysis.
If the drone is still in warranty period, please contact our support to provide the records and start a ticket for data analysis.

fans76920c20 Posted at 2017-10-1 18:14
I have installed the DJI Assistant software onto my Mac Computer. If i hook up my Phantom 3 Advanced via the USB Cable and enable Flight Data Mode etc, the program will not initialize but stays on the first page without recognizing my P3. If I hook up my P4, the program it will initialize properly. After I had the program open, I tried loading one of the DAT Files from the P3 which I saved, but the program would not recognize the file even though it said it was loaded into the program. I'm not sure what's going on, but it seems the program is not P3 friendly, or I'm doing something wrong?

Please note that you need to connect Phantom 4 firstly to open DataViewer in advance.
Please keep us updated if the problem persists.

BumblerBee Posted at 2017-10-5 10:42
I am on DJI Assistant 1.1.6, just upgraded firmware from 3.1 to 4.0, hoping that access to the flight data would be fixed, but no.
Step 1 of this tutorial is impossible, as SD card shows up as unformatted (no medium present) in Windows Explorer.

This method is not available for Mavic and Spark at present.
Did the drone be crashed? What can we do for you?

DJI Mindy Posted at 2017-10-11 01:55
This method is not available with Spark and Mavic at the moment, our engineers are working on developing, we don't have the time frame, you patience would be appreciated.